The Eastern Union Congress (EUC), a think-tank for the peoples of the old Eastern Region, now South East and South South, has condemned the handling of a recent mayhem in Orlu by Imo State Government and security agencies.

EUC regretted the death toll and burning of property in Orlu attributed to members of security agencies in their alleged search for members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).

The group demands the Federal Government constitute an independent judicial panel to examine the causes of the crisis and recommend punishment for those found culpable within a month from now or risked being dragged to the international community.

“The EUC sees the continuing massacre of innocent citizens in the South East, at the least provocation, as part of a wider subjugation agenda and subtle continuation of the Nigerian-Biafran War of 1967 to 1970, which was waged by the Nigerian Federal Government and its allies against the predominantly Christian eastern region.

“The EUC is concerned that the security agencies, which are maintained with tax payers’ money, have mastered the art of attacking innocent civilians in the streets. Indeed, EUC is alarmed by anathema of the regular resort to scorched-earth strategy, collateral damage and fear-mongering in every civil unrest internal security operations in the South East. The EUC notes that there is no other part of Nigeria where this type of operational rule book is applied other than the South East, not even the insurgency affected North East. The South East is not at war with Nigeria. This approach must stop.”